Prior to entering politics, Janardhana Poojary practiced law as a barrister from 1960 to 1979. As a lawyer, he was actively engaged in safeguarding the interests of poor agricultural tenants and defended a large number of poor people by giving them free legal aid. He was elected to the
6th Lok Sabha in 1977 from
Mangalore constituency in
Karnataka. He was re-elected to the
Lok Sabha in 1980, 1984 and 1989 from the same constituency. He was a Central (Union) Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Finance from 1982-84. From 1984 to '87 he was the Central (Union) Minister of State for Finance. He was the Central Minister of State for Rural Development in 1988-89. He was defeated by
V. Dhananjay Kumar during 1991 Lokhsabha election. Despite his best efforts he was defeated by BJP candidates in successive elections. In April 1994, he was elected to the
Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the
Indian Parliament – a position he held until May 2008. He was responsible for the construction of several colleges, schools and temples, including the
Gokarnanatheshwara Temple (Kudroli Temple) in Mangalore. He also took active part in construction of
Dharmasthala Kanyadi Shree Raam Mandir. He also took initiative in the renovation of Kankanady Shree Brahma Baiderkala Garodi Temple & Katpady Shree Vishwanatha Temple. Under his leadership many temples, Garodi temples, Narayana Guru mandira have been constructed across
Tulunadu which comprises
Mangalore,
Udupi,
Chikmagalur,
Karwar and
Kasargod. During his tenure as Central (Union) Minister of State for Finance, he organized credit camps (Loan Melas) to give assistance to the weaker sections of the society. The politicisation of bank credit policies, led to the creation of significant non-performing assets on the books of public sector banks. The loan disbursal was also undertaken in violation of prescribed
Reserve Bank of India norms. He has brought several projects not only to Mangalore but for entire Karnataka. Some of the projects are Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL),
Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), Upgrading Mangalore Domestic (National) Airport to
Mangalore International Airport, Upgrading Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC) to
National Institute Of Technology (NITK), extension of
New Mangalore Port (NMPT), railway projects like Bangalore/Mangalore Day & Night Train, Four Lane Highway Projects of about 60 km from
Bantwal To
Surathkal. ==References==